Edition Ruckstuhl will be on show in Hall 20, stand E02 at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile.

Here are some more details from Ruckstuhl:

Edition Ruckstuhl

In comparison with the attention which the design-conscious public repeatedly pays to furniture and lights, carpets are all too rarely the focal point of attention. Yet the type and appearance of textile floor furnishings is certainly no less decisive in creating a room’s atmosphere than is an attractive lamp or a sofa. It is a realisation that seems slowly to be gaining currency of late. Whether this is due to the current “homing” trend postulated by opinion and consumer researchers is neither here nor there. The Edition Ruckstuhl being presented here is certainly another good reason to take a closer look at carpets, a subject which was underappreciated for far too long.

Edition Ruckstuhl is, in short, nine authors, designers and artists and twelve out-of-the-ordinary limited edition carpets. This traditional Swiss carpet manufacturer, world-renowned for its design awareness and its quality “Made in Switzerland”, is entering uncharted territory with this collection. Edition, which will be presented to the public for the first time during the Milan Furniture Fair, owes its origin to the belief that it would be nice for once to ignore the constraints imposed by larger production runs and by the marketplace, and to create an exquisite selection of “floor concepts” which interpret the ancient carpet concept in new and unconventional ways. The authorship of each creation, and the associated individual design approaches of each creator taking part, was to remain recognisable; practical and functional aspects, on the other hand, were to play a subordinate role. The Edition also offers scope for experimental approaches. An obligation to work primarily with natural materials – which is of course standard procedure at Ruckstuhl – was practically the only condition that had to be fulfilled for this project.

The selection of authors was anything but representative. Peter Ruckstuhl, who not only initiated the Edition collection, but also oversaw it as curator, relied entirely on his knowledge of textiles and his personal assessments. He consciously resisted the temptation of selecting one or more “stars” from the design scene, in spite of the marketing advantages this could have entailed. Instead, he strove to acquire the services of designers and artists who have demonstrated their expertise with textiles and those with potential – even if some, such as Ursula Spicher-Waldburger or Céline Sorigue – have not yet been prominent in the field of carpet design. Some of them, such as Fiorella Fasciati, Jutta Bernhard and Hugo Zumbühl, have had professional relationships with Ruckstuhl for many years now. Others, including Claudy Jongstra and Deborah Moss, are practically new discoveries. For Marcello Morandini and Atelier Oï, Edition represented a welcome opportunity to deepen existing connections.

The reasons for which these authors were selected are as varied as their backgrounds – all, however, could be expected to engage deeply with the matter at hand, and to provide their own innovative approach, whatever form it might take. In light of the designs which have resulted, it is clear that this plan has been a success.

Edition impresses thanks to its wealth of motifs and to the variety of techniques employed. Taken as a whole, it offers an exciting cross-section of contemporary carpet design. While there are a multitude of design approaches and aesthetics in evidence here, each work also has some fundamental things in common: the care which went into each design and the outstanding craftsmanship and quality of the finished products guarantee that each carpet in the Edition collection will enjoy a long life.